The Dillon tribune., 1887-09-09
ACTORS MEMORIES
FANTASTIC TRICKS THEY PLAY
The F'.r THEIa possEssoRs'

to his opl,llI1n 1anl m the psychological aspect
write. oooh the stage. Probably the actor
Of Lie ,,rre o. m m opportunity OF becoming
has Is -. .ai with curious phenomena OF the
acGlall'';.,,tt ;,te,lect as any man that nVes.
human :n',s .nu freaks Of superstitious fancy
The cua:oas n,:ot come Of the best known actors
thai a. an.he themes of discussion. Some thlnK
are opu a,t I'm, act if they see a horse OF Ger
e,a s,ar or il they don't wear a certain
COW 4 they play in certain house.
t.ss' s"+ors " have played one part so many
some MOT, ..at tho work has become entirely
tnss nh,n;cal. ,I and they forget how far along
rsel,.. 'are cot in the play. Under some
the. m,:t;ors ZION IF mind-not induced by drink
caoi.'oh ' +ha Oldest actor is liable to miss a
e'N. o,,1 a fellow actor out of his lines,
cue ,otto. ~ if he knows the play SO well
no '..a ~ o,n repcat the whole thing from
tuat uan;nc ~ to end. l have known even SO
Ns Nsat,, and thorough nm actor as Lawrence
eal.as Cu.natt who has played 'Richelieu'
lMaanssn,]s M,] Of times, suppose, to get
l.varn off the tracks in the first interview
.l.raan .n.u"a the cardinal and Julie, and have
N.m a, hac,, to his first speech to get it right.
~ ~ 1ono oco heard Frederick Warde, in
avn ..vn,tiating on his favorite play, damon
sn1 pythias, play in which he has acted
WI. rrncpal or subordinate parts for fifteen
% Es,rs utterly fail to recall three lines from
;ta yery passage he was wont to deliver
with the greatest effect from the stage.
.Rut the most curious freak of the
,ctcr's memory, and the one to my mind
tnrthcrcst from any rational explanation,
;s,hc way it will sometimes, and for no
,n0orent cause, utterly refuse to take any
imalnression at all. I remember very we'll
tho first experience of that kind | ever
Ind WIS in the company Of Il we'll
troy:n t9agcllan of this city. A change
IN the cast had given me the part of Bara-
las two days before 'Richelicu' was to be
reformed. was fairly familiar with the
mrt and thought would have no diff
rultv in becoming dead letter perfect in it.
lstudied all my lengths that night until
knew them pretty well, and the next day
Ivent at them again. To my speeches.
horror discovered that all that had
studied had escaped from my mind Read
the lines over as many times as l would
and strive as hard as would to impress
item on my mind, not one would stick.
III should ever bccomaR raving maniac 7
would never be more pitiablc object than
Twas that day. l locked myself in my
room and refused to eat while went over
the lines to myself as Nicholas Nickleby
went over the apothecary's lines to poor
Smikc. Toward evening began to get
the better Of them and when ! went to the
theatre had them all pat. had regainel
sgreat deal of my confidence and thought
lshould have no more trouble.
"lrlaginc my feelings when I discov-
cred, as I heard my first cue, that the
whole part had got away from me. I
stood before that sea of upturncd faces
with no idea of what l was going to say
At last found my voice, and said some
thing-I don't know what. Such Il ver-
sion of Daradas no audience ever listened
toas mine was that night. l struggled
on making mp sentences as went along,
and trying to keep what said within the
general plot of the play, of which had u
fairly distinct impression. | don't sup
pose what / said sounded half as bad to
others as it did to me, for tho people in
the wings told me afterward that few per-
sons not familiar with the text would
have suspected there was anything serious
the matter
"As soon rs was off the stage made
arush for the dressing room. grabbed q
play book and laboriously studied my
next lengths until was to go on again.
II was OF no Use. | couldn't remember q
word of my part when l got before the
iootlishts. Desperation came to my aid,
however. | plunged in boldly and got
through all Improvisation that would have
mace EClWcr>" hair stand ON end. with
out any bad breaks. That night when
was getting into bed, utterly disgustet
WIN my~->it. all those lines came back II
me IN : Le@p. and for weeks aud weeks
ney haunted me. They took such com
ple'e possession of mo that couli
Msrceiy drive them ont Of ny head whc,
"'e m'he c"ne TO learn another part.
-, AhS' was ten years ago, end nevc7
l @N to2ch Of the malady again unit
Hs' |lht"". We were trying = NOW p;ec,
oa 'he dog in Providence We had ha.
+" III lea";,:::al for some time and | sup
po,'" % E::"" I'll 1Hy part sntl business, a
,;u1 vl Is '-E2" my own name. VAS TIN
,s,Elll, 2r> Il: the fourth act was; 10 guar
NV se. WIN ;tl,' stab my accomplicc in crime
~. ~. winch was 70 be sentenced to ,.cat1
n,s. Way. coa!esSln. all my villai,y. In tn
hss sM t"' h&d ( scene with the hero jus
aao. t,o.e the quarrel, and I'm blessed if
,p:i otl forget lines. business and every
sna sn1as . else Jumping away down to til
,n., VI 'ne act. killed the hero. Ih
hos'''r hc. OK the play, who was sitting in
Eha,.o l~, must have been paraly:cd at tn
I;aae! I.! took with his text, and the ar
,h,. es =, must have thought it very strang
in ,, ~ 'le nero should come to life SO readil
tsnao, NY next act. and that should be ser
him h,eo u 70 death for merely trying to Hi
w;,h VIII, But the dog lived, and [ e!ot o,
WIN WIN a scorchine from the r,,,,,:,o,. ,n ~ y
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